Sun Jul 15th Grannies/Armadillos lose by 7 wkts
Match report
Grannies/Armadillos XI - 101ao
IZ Australia - 104-3
If I tell you that the more tact, guile, and skill went into recruiting players than the game itself you wouldn’t believe me - and you’d also think it must have been a lifeless game. You’d be wrong, but what was the reason for this?
It’s Coming Home - it didn’t mais bon…and the highly anticipated Federer/Nadal wimbers final (which also didn’t actually happen).
Bizarrely, the most common response had nothing to do with the World Cup final. The game was co-managed by myself and Phil Davy of the Armadillos, and we received a plethora of random unlikely family scenarios that took ‘all weekend’. Some however were completely honest and said they’d be 20 ales deep by 4pm and flitting between Federer/Nadal and the World Cup Final. All possible scenarios were explored – 20/20 finish by 4pm, take a long tea and watch the game then go back out, play the day before instead, or play declaration game but start at 6am. As you can imagine, all a bit of an issue so we had to turn to empty promises, IOUs and blind assurances of a TV in the clubhouse. Those that we did manage to recruit were lured in under a bare-faced lie that I’d 100% secured front-row seats in front of the projector at the Griffin, and for those that wanted to get back to Trafalgar square, they’d be allowed to bat first then scram back to town. The Friday night was spent praying that England would lose that semi-final - I calculate it cost my hairline circa 2 inches…
So, bit of a pickle for Phil and Pete but we’d like to thank a very understanding IZ side who, although slightly flummoxed, did completely understand the predicament and wouldn’t for a second blame any Granny or ringer for putting Kane and country before a Grannies game.
Sunday dawned beautiful and bright, and a scratch Armadillos/Grannies XI (actually only 9) were raring to go. Again, at this juncture we should mentioned that we are eternally grateful for the 2 IZ ringers supplied. We won the toss and elected to bat – we had a pretty strong (and youthful batting line-up) but with MCC whizz E Gross opening up I felt there was a wide head on young shoulders who could anchor the innings. Perhaps it’s a good time to mention that the IZ turned up in a massive bus with many wonderful supporters, wives and girlfriends on a hot summers day. It could have been this, or just a good delivery but anyhow E Gross was back in the hutch within the first over. The long and the short of it is that none of us scored more than 20 and we were all out for 101 by lunch, with their opener still easing into his opening spell and 5 wickets to boot. Much was discussed during this short period of play – and the conclusion was that he was definitely a solid bowler, the pitch was as always at SP, but we were probably the masters of our downfall.
Opening up with Bethwaite and Gross, we started solidly, keeping the run-rate well within range of a respectable finishing time. Opening spell went to 1st change and much to my surprise, I kept it relative on a length as was admirably supported by W Dunn at the other end. That said, 1 wicket down after a plumb lbw, there was little we could do to stem the steady eek of causal runs, and although 2 more wickets followed, the IZ strolled to 102 with the 5-wicket hauler climbing to 43* and deservedly earning MoM. After words of welcome and thanks from Phil, and a small presentation ceremony from the IZ, we all bused over to the Griffin for some hard(ish)-earned beers and lo and behold we were slap-bang on time for the 2nd half of the WC final, funny how these things happen…
Match info
Location
Sheffield Park,
TN22 3QX